"So, how long have I been out?" Zuko asks his uncle. He looked around the room and saw some familiar faces. Mai and Ty Lee where huddled over the still body of Mai's brother, Kalo. Sephiroth and Jee where talking in the corner about where they should head first. Iroh smiled down at Zuko.

"About five days. What happened?"

"Azula attacked me. All I remember is a bright blue flash, then darkness." Zuko looked down and sighed. "How bad was I burned?"

"You will have a permanent scar on the left side of your face, it is not pretty." Iroh replies, holding out a mirror. Zuko gasped at the sight. The upper part of his face was a deep red, especially his left eye. His left ear was almost burnt off. He takes the mirror from Iroh and throws in into the nearest wall, shattering it.

"Damn that bitch. How could she do this to me, her own brother?" Zuko screams. Everyone stares at Zuko. "Please, leave, I need to think." Iroh nods and motions everyone to follow him out of the room. When everyone leaves Zuko sits up and starts to meditate. The room around him starts to darken. "Zuko, I need to talk to you."

Suddenly a blue light leaves Zuko's body and forms the older Zuko in front of him. "What do you need?" he asks kindly.

"When I was out, I saw a water bender fighting my dad, and killing him. She saw me and smiled, but then she was shot full of lightning. Who is she?"

The other Zuko sighs. "Her name is Katara. She is a bender from the Southern Water Tribe. On your sixteenth birthday, you need to go there. On that day, your destiny will be reviled."

Zuko looked up and frowned. "Why did it seem like she cared for me. She said my name with a kindness I have never herd."

"That is something I can not tell you. I am sorry, but this is all the information I can give you. This will be the last time we talk."

"Wait, before you go, could you tell me how you got your scar?"

"Our father." was all he said before he vanished.

Zuko sighed and got out of his bed. He walked out into the hallway, and got directions to the captain's quarters. He knocked on the door and herd a muffled come in, so he entered. He found Iroh and Jee playing Pai Sho. Sephiroth was talking with the two about whet to do next. Iroh looked over and saw Zuko. "Come over, my boy. We need to discuss what to do."

Zuko sits next to Seph and watches the game. Sephiroth was the first to continue the conversation. "I think we need to abandon this ship and get a more subtle ship if we are escaping the fire nation."

Zuko looks at his brother confused. "What do you mean 'escaping'."

Iroh sighs. "We have decided that we need to find a way to stop the war. And that means stopping your father, and becoming traitors."

Zuko glares at Iroh. "You have got to be kidding. I agree with you about wanting to stop the war, but what can a rag tag group of people do about all of this. I thought our escape was about getting me away from father, not to turn against our nation."

Jee glares at Zuko. "Think, child. The only way to stop the war is to turn on our nation."

"What of your families? They will be punished for your actions."

"No they wont. Have you been around the ship?" Zuko shakes his head. "Well, if you had then you would have noticed that their are more than just the crew. We turned this ship into a refugee transport. Our families and friends are on this to get away from the fire nation and it's cruelty."

Zuko's frown turns up into a slight grin. "So, how long have you been planning this?"

"We have been planning this for a few months. Our original plans where to leave in about three years. But our dreams have put the plans into fast forward, so we needed to escape quickly." Iroh replied.

Zuko looked at his brother. "What are we going to do then? We are still just a small ship, and you want to stop the fire nation."

Jee smiled at Zuko. "We have a plan. When we dock, the four of us, plus Mai, her son, Ty Lee, Kalo, and a few crew members will take a smaller earth kingdom ship, and go to Gaoling."

"What is in Gaoling?" Zuko asks.

"Their is where we will find a cousin of yours, Toph Bei Fong. We will convince her to join us, and then we will travel to the south pole. There we will try and settle into the Southern Water Tribe, offer them protection and supplies. And we will wait for your destiny to revel itself." Iroh replied.

"Sounds good to me, but couldn't we wait to go south until the time comes?" Zuko asks.

Iroh laughs and smiles. "Nope, you need to learn about different cultures, and what would be a better way than living the culture." Zuko sighs in defeat.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

They landed about a week later, in a small port in the southern earth kingdom. It was small and the people where friendly, when they explained that they where refugees.

Iroh managed to buy a small ship, only big enough to fit fifteen people comfortably. After the ship was bought they decided on who goes where. Zuko looked around the ship and smiled. "I know who we need to bring. Vaan, since he can use any weapon proficiently. Fran, since she is our best archer. Balthier, since he is a master navigator. Lulu, Palom, and Vivi, since they are the three best fire benders in Jee's crew. And finally Yuna, since she is the best healer we have. That will put us up at exactly fifteen people."

Iroh smiles at Zuko. "But what about when we convince Toph to join us. That might make it a little uncomfortable."

Zuko scratches his chip for a few seconds, thinking. "We still need the people I pointed out. We can change around our sleeping arrangements after we get her. Anyway, remember we still need to find and convince her to join us. We probably should leave at dawn. We will leave Mai in charge of the ship and crew, and you, me, and Sephiroth will go find Toph."

"Sounds like a good plan. Now go and get some rest, I will inform Jee about the arrangements." Zuko nods and bids Iroh goodnight, before heading to his room on the ship.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zuko feels a light shaking and he slowly opens his eyes. He sits up and looks around his room, and sees Sephiroth sitting next to him. "Time to go." Zuko nods and grabs his pack next to the bed and stands up to stretch. Seph and Zuko leave the ship and find Iroh leading three Ostrich horses.

Iroh greets the two. "OK, we are going to be traveling under cover. Seph, you will be known as Zack, Zuko, you will be known as Lee, and I will be your grandfather, Pong. Our last name is Fang." the boys nod. "Now saddle up, I just read a poster that says Earth Rumble III starts in about two weeks, and we are a ways from Gaoling."

"Do you have the tickets?" Zuko asks.

"Yes I do, now lets go." The three saddle up and head off towards Gaoling.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Toph sat in her room and sighed. "How am I going to escape this time?" she pondered. Her old guard was fired when her parents found out she was able to escape, and now she had to deal with this new guy. He was good. Her last three escape attempts ended in humiliating failure. "He isn't letting up. I need a plan." Suddenly the idea hit her. Toph launched a large rock threw the window and shouted "Somebody, help. Someone just broke into my room." The new guy burst in and Toph launched a large rock at his head, knocking him unconscious. Toph then drilled her way out of the house, and into the Earth Rumble Arena.

Xin Fu was sitting the bleachers when he saw the Blind Bandit fall through the roof. He bent a column of earth and caught her. "Took you long enough. Practice started an hour ago."

Toph looked down and smiled. "My parents put up a new guard. I just got away."

Xin Fu smiled. "Well come on, we need to spar."